CURLE NOT IMPRESSED WITH REF
CARLISLE overcame the 28th minute sending-off of Jamie Devitt to take a point from Portsmouth.
Reggie Lambe prodded the visitors ahead on 14 minutes at the end of what was the Cumbrians’ first attack of note.
Devitt’s dismissal altered the contest’s complexion entirely and, with half-time looming, Carl Baker drove home the leveller.
But a dominant Pompey could not complete the turnaround.
The visitors’ opening goal arrived when Shaun Miller skilfully cushioned Mike Jones’ forward ball into the path of the onrushing Lambe. The Bermudan international duly did the rest, striding on to stab his finish inside David Forde’s right-hand post.
Devitt was given his marching orders for tugging back at Roberts just 10 minutes after being cautioned for upending Drew Talbot.
And Carlisle boss Keith Curle would later confess he was aggrieved at a decision that left his side facing an uphill battle.
“I had a conversation with the referee and I understand his interpretation for the incident,” he said. “I obviously disagree with it wholeheartedly but it’s fit and proper that I don’t elaborate any further.”
Baker squared things up three minutes before half-time, the attacker collecting Gary Roberts’ return pass to advance into the box and fire left footed through Mark Gillespie’s legs.
The hosts’ sought to put the hammer down after the interval.
After Michael Smith somehow shanked wide with the goal at his mercy, Roberts’ wicked cross flew across the face of goal and Baker volleyed over.
When the excellent Gillespie was finally beaten by Danny Rose’s blistering 72nd-minute effort, the ball crashed back out off the keeper’s right-hand post.
And confirmation it would be Gillespie’s day arrived when he tipped behind successive speculative Michael Doyle strikes that finally sucked the life from a pulsing Fratton Park.
Paul Cook admitted he was frustrated by the outcome.
“You felt the (winning) goal was coming,” he said. “Their keeper had a great game today. Good luck to them. Every day is not a good day. One day we’ll go up for sure. No one will stop us. What the time scale is none of us know. But our supporters will get this club back to where they want to be.” Curle, meanwhile, could reflect on a satisfying afternoon’s work: “There was an immediate buy-in from the players,” he said. “They showed the determination to face up to the challenge of coming to Pompey and not be pushed onto the back foot. “With 11 men on the pitch I think we could have gone two or three nil up. But we adapted when we had to and there’s a resilience about Carlisle now.”